I was lucky to go on a trip to Japan in 2005 and it was some heads on this very forum that I heard recommend Nujabes. I managed to pick up a few releases while there; Hyde Out First Collection, Nujabes' first album Metaphorical Music and the Pase Rock album Bullsh!t As Usual. Also the two Samurai Champloo soundtracks.

After that I pretty much picked up every album Hyde Out released until Nujabes' sad passing. A lot I got from HMV Japan (they had a good website and decent shipping rates - I also got Thes One Live at the Rootdown Soundclash through them and the Double K Ssence compilation). Others from juno.co.uk who imported some, or a japanese friend or two. I must have spent a lot on all that shipping over the years!

So I got all these close to when they came out (these are all on CD);
Nujabes - Modal Soul
Modal Soul Classics
Hyde Out Second Collection
Jemapur - Dok Springs * personal favourite *
Uyama Hiroto - A Son of the Sun & Freedom of the Sun
Emancipator - Soon It Will Be Cold Enough
Modal Soul Classics II
Kenmochi Hidefumi - Falliccia
Substantial - To This Union a Son was Born

I also got Nujabes "third album" Spiritual State that was released after his death. But it is a lot of unfinished tracks so it's not the same. Some are good but some maybe should have stayed in the vaults. I haven't really bothered with any of the other posthumous stuff, endless tribute albums or Shing02 reissues.

I have a few 12"s but not so many. They are hard to find!

Somewhere I also have the Uyama Hiroto - Waltz for Life will Born 12" and the DSK remix 12" (both awesome) and Nujabes 'From The Ground Up' remix (not that great actually).

But my most treasured ones are actually not Nujabes productions but are from his Tribe record label (there was also a Tribe shop in Shibuya). These 7"s are just beautiful music;
FK (dude worked in the shop and has beautiful productions. I've never seen anything else by him).
Seietsu (album is available on itunes. It's good very chopped beats but these tracks are the best)
Coffee & Cigarettes Band (nice version of jazz standards)
Taninaka (dope heavy jazzy beats)
Thirdiq (full album is also great but this has a nice FK remix on it)

Twelve - where did you find the Nas remix? I never really knew if that had an official release!

Hyde Out and Tribe both had an extensive output of records, especially 12"s which were hard to keep track of (mostly only released in Japan I believe) and pretty hard to track down now. Any secret locations Twelve?

Nice thread Twelve, I absolutely love Nujabes! Unfortunately I haven't ever seen a Nujabes album in the wild and only have digital formats of his music. Anything that Jun had his hand would be on my list, dude had an amazing ear for the unique...

For me Nujabes was a discovery from my Soulseek days. (Some of you will remember the struggle in the times of dial-up modems, having to get on other user's friend lists and then hoping and praying they'd stay online long enough for you to get a handful of files from them or at least move up in their queue... )
I've never really been one to buy CDs, so never got around to picking up any of his albums in the physical world - in hindsight that probably worked out well for me, too, as I probably would've overpaid dearly and/or ended up with bootleg CDRs if I'd purchased anything off ebay at the time.

Unfortunately Hyde Out and Tribe - I believe the label was run out of the Shibuya store of the same name, similar to Muro's Savage or Jazzy Sport - never had any widespread distribution outside of Japan and focused mainly on putting out limited edition 12"s and 7"s every now and then, so their stuff has always been pretty elusive. I'm fairly certain if they ever pressed up the 'Metaphorical Music' or 'Modal Soul' albums on vinyl they'd be able to sell 2000+ copies easily...

I was lucky/patient/persistent enough to scoop up most of the 12"s I've got for reasonable money over the years, but it's definitely about research, timing and knowing which ones have the (IMO) better beats. As you'd expect it's the ones that credit Nujabes as the main artist that are more expensive than the ones he "just" produced.

Regarding the tributes and posthumous releases: Yes, there are many and not all of them are worth picking up, but TBH I'd rather see well executed, tasteful tribute releases than the kind of shameless musical graverobbing/exploitation that's kept "Dilla" on the shelves for the past decade or so. (Ma Dukes and her cohorts/hangers on will put out anything as long as there's money to be made off of it, utterly disregarding whether her son would've wanted anyone to hear that music or it provides a worthwhile addition to his overall legacy. I've lost track of how many weak records have come out just in the last few years...) Someone like Funky DL definitely gets a pass in my book, because he frequently collaborated with Nujabes before either of them were widely known.Same goes for Ta-Ku, who's always cited Nujabes as being one of his main influences coming up.

YoYoPo said:
Twelve - where did you find the Nas remix? I never really knew if that had an official release!

Hyde Out and Tribe both had an extensive output of records, especially 12"s which were hard to keep track of (mostly only released in Japan I believe) and pretty hard to track down now. Any secret locations Twelve?

I finally got my copy of the Dimention Ball Remix from a private collector in France last year. I've heard there's supposedly bootlegs of it out there, but TBH I've always put that down to the fact that it's an unofficial release to begin with. (You never know with boots though - especially in Japan - some folks press up stuff that you'd never even imagine there'd be any serious demand or sales potential for... )

FK contributed a remix to the CD version of Lex's 'Full Cycle' album not that long ago, so it appears he's still doing his thing. (I'd highly recommend checking out Lex and his group Kalhex for anyone who hasn't heard them btw - love the 'Perfect Picture' LP especially!)

I'll take that 'From The Ground Up Remix' btw if you don't want it. Not really one of Nujabes' better efforts, but one of the few Beat Junkies/Dilated releases I don't have...

Oh, and for those who don't know: The Samurai Champloo soundtrack (which has been repressed 2-3 times now) really does tie in with an animated TV series in JP. Fat Jon, who has a couple of tracks on it also, apparently landed a gig scoring a new series called 'Tephlon Funk' fairly recently as well:

I'm curious whether anyone can pinpoint the origin of that illustration? Fairly certain it's fanmade rather than official as I've only ever seen it on the interweb, but it certainly does get around...
The upside down headphones seem to be inspired by this performance (at least that's where some of the most recognizable Nujabes photos are from)
but given the way the character is drawn I've long wondered whether there's another recognizable source similar to the Jay Dee/Schroeder pic?

I first discovered Nujabes almost 10 years ago when I was in Japan. I was at a music shop in Shibuya and I picked up Modal Soul and Metaphorical Music solely based on the album covers. All this talk of Nujabes and I'm gonna have to crack out these albums again, it's been too long!!

Twelve! Took me a while but I dug out my copy of the Associates Nujabes remix. It's nice to own but I doubt I've played it more than twice. It's mint condition and yours if you want it!

I also stumbled upon a great little cafe and record shop called Sugahill in Sydenham (South London). Trhe guy Chris who runs it is definitely an old school hip hop head (I clocked his Mission: and Prefuse73 stickers straight away)! He also had 3 (three!) Nujabes / Pase Rock singles in his boxes. Super dope! Got some good finds, will post up soon!